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Should Mathematicians Care About Communicating to Broad Audiences? Theory and Practice

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Should Mathematicians Care About Communicating to Broad Audiences? Theory and Practice Panel discussion organised by the European Mathematical Society (EMS) Should mathematicians care about communicating to broad audiences? Theory and practice Transcription coordinated by Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, CNRS-IHÉS, Bures-sur-Yvette, France In most countries, mathematics is not present in the media at par with other basic sciences. This is especially true regarding the communication of outstanding new results, their significance and perspectives of development of the field. The main purpose of the panel discussion, an EMS initiative, that took place at the ICM on Wednesday, August 23, between 6 and 8 p.m., was to nurture the debate on whether communicating about mathematics, as a thriving part of science, is needed, and how such a communication can be efficiently tuned to different audiences and a variety of circumstances. For that purpose, the EMS Executive Committee set up a committee consisting of Jean-Pierre Bourguignon (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and In- stitut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, Bures-sur-Yvette, France), Olga Gil-Medrano (Universitat de València, Spain), Ari Laptev (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, Stock- holm, Sweden), and Marta Sanz-Solé (Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain) to prepare the event and select the panelists. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon was asked more specifically to prepare the event with the panelists and to moderate the discussion itself. These proceedings include a revised version of the presentations made by the panelists under their signature, and a brief outline of the discussion that took place after their presentations. A contribution that was later elaborated by a participant from the floor has been added separately from the discussion. Philippe Tondeur (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States of America) The question to the panelists was, as stated in the title, “Should mathematicians care about communicating to broad audiences?” My view is that of course they should, and the core of the argument is as follows: (1) Mathematics is a fantastic form of human thought, and historically the basis of rational thinking. (2) Aside from its intrinsic beauty and power, mathematics is indispensable for the progress of science and the betterment of the human condition. Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians, Madrid, Spain, 2006 © 2007 European Mathematical Society 738 Panel discussion organised by the European Mathematical Society (3) Mathematics is embedded in science and enables the science enterprise, even if this role is often invisible to the outsider. (4) Mathematics and science are the greatest human enterprises ever undertaken to understand the world. Mathematicians are key partners in this process. For the purpose of this discussion mathematics is used as shorthand for mathe- matics and statistics. Stochasticity is an essential and pervasive aspect of the phe- nomenological world. The role of mathematics in society at large Mathematics and science cannot fully progress without the understanding of their purposes and participation by the society in which this enterprise is embedded. In communicating with broad audiences, the message has to be calibrated to the specific audience addressed. This is most effective if done through examples. There is enormous public interest in the biomedical realm, thus illustrating the role of mathematics in medical progress like biomedical imaging has immediate ap- peal. If the mysteries of the cosmos and string theory are under discussion, the rich geometric ideas underlying these efforts can be described. Cryptography is used in telecommunication and security issues are of paramount public interest. Everyday use of search engines on the web is based on mathematical page rank algorithms. The logistics of supply chains is encountered ever more frequently in everyday life. There are vast amounts of online visual material on such topics from the mathematical sciences, and public presentations can draw on these abundant sources. This discussion also points to the critical role that mathematics plays in interdis- ciplinary activities. Mathematics acts as a lingua franca of interdisciplinary science. While interdisciplinary science is driven by the nature of specific science problems, it frequently operates within a contextual and quantitative framework provided by the mathematical sciences. The foreseeable future is going to be one of unprecedented pervasiveness of mathematical thought throughout the sciences. In a data driven world, mathematical concepts and algorithmic processes will be the primary naviga- tional tools. This makes mathematics increasingly important for many of the science and engineering advances to come. The opportunities for the mathematical sciences seem unprecedented. What it takes to get mathematics thriving Much of the public discussion of mathematics and science focuses on the proper level of financial support. But the vitality of the mathematics and science enterprise depends on much more than this. It is a societal activity which is part of the cultural mosaic and which flourishes especially well in an open liberal society. By this I mean a society where inquiry is respected as a fundamental principle independent of the outcome, and where all authority is understood to be provisional. The international character of the mathematical sciences makes it a model for sci- entific partnerships across the world. This common purpose is pursued in exemplary fashion by other disciplines like astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, to name a few. The basic sciences are all working to develop our common patrimony. Should mathematicians care about communicating to broad audiences? 739 The educational needs for success in interdisciplinary activities are manifold: aside from mathematics, modeling, and computation, there is a need for education in the fundamentals of the basic sciences, and the development of communication skills. This requires significant improvement in our current educational paradigm for mathematical scientists. A paradoxical situation There is a paradox developing between the increased sophistication of mathematical science research and the worldwide decline of the number of students interested in pursuing mathematics at the university level. A particular threat is the insufficient number of mathematically qualified students willing to become teachers of math- ematics. Mathematicians have an educational stewardship responsibility, which is primary in post-secondary mathematics education, but we also share an important responsibility in the training of teachers of mathematics. In a broad sense, mathemat- ical scientists share in the responsibility for the state of mathematical education in the world. I am referring to education in the broadest sense, namely the preparation for lifelong learning of a large segment of the population, however that may be achieved. I would like to compare the need for mathematical skills of future generations to the current need for reading skills. It took a long time to achieve widespread reading literacy, and it will take a long time to achieve widespread mathematical literacy. Yet there is no doubt that this will be a fundamental skill in an increasingly digital world. The participation of research mathematicians in these developments is indispensable. Conclusion The gift of mathematical talent allowed us individually to enter the world of mathe- matics, and to enjoy this most fantastic achievement of mankind as our profession. This privilege gives rise to the responsibility of sharing these insights with our fellow human beings and especially with the next generation. My experience has been that effectiveness in these endeavors is the result of well and strongly articulated convic- tions, using all communication tools available and adapted to specific audiences. Marcus du Sautoy (University of Oxford and an EPSRC Senior Media Fellow, United Kingdom) Maths for the masses One of the books that excited me as a child about the mysterious and romantic world of mathematics was Hardy’s “A Mathematician’s Apology”. As an adult it is a book I love and hate because it comes with a very mixed message. Anyone who wants to emulate Hardy and bring the subject alive for others lives under the spectre of the opening sentence of the book: “It is a melancholy experience for a professional mathematician to find himself writing about mathematics. The function of a mathematician is to do something, to prove new theorems, to add to mathematics, and not to talk about what he or other mathematicians have done.” 740 Panel discussion organised by the European Mathematical Society And this is the impression that many in the mathematical community have: anyone who talks about mathematics is a failed mathematician. So it was with a lot of trepidation that I made my own first steps to bring mathematics to the masses. A personal experience We must all as mathematicians have had the experience of trying to explain at a party what it is we do provided that discovering we are mathematicians doesn’t make the guest flee in the other direction. At one dinner in Oxford my neighbour turned out to be the Features Editor of the Times. He said that what I did sounded very sexy and would I write him an article. The next morning I found his card in my jacket pocket but realised I didn’t have the nerve to go in front of my mathematical peers saying the things I’d explained the night before. But there is an old adage in Oxford that the academics might change but the guests remain the same. So three years later I found myself sitting next to the same journalist. “You never wrote me that article.” Impressed that he’d even remembered after three years and feeling a little more confident in my position I decided to take him up on the offer. After all Hilbert had declared in his famous 1900 address to the ICM that “A mathematical theory is not to be considered complete until you have made it so clear that you can explain it to the first man whom you meet on the street.” So I decided to take up the Times and Hilbert’s challenge. I chose to write a piece about the Fields Medals which had been awarded that summer in 1994 which had got no press coverage in the UK.
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